In Our Lifetime?
by Anti-Mattering
Summary: Bianca Moskowitz, age 20. Daughter of a nurse and a waste collection truck driver in New York City, her potential in life far exceeded what others saw for her. Currently studying at the University of Tokyo as an exchange student in the Department of Biological Sciences, she has no knowledge of Stands or the people who use them. That will soon change upon meeting a certain man.
1. Caught in the Rain

_Bianca and Jotaro meet for the first time. It does not go well._

* * *

She had no idea why, but she couldn't seem to stop thinking about that guy. They only had one class together and were barely in proximity to each other any other time, but he still managed to invade her thoughts, clinging to her brain like some kind of gremlin hanging onto the wing of a plane. And it wasn't because he was attractive.

Well, he was, but that was obvious to anyone with eyes. Tall, muscular, a chiseled jaw, and that intense glare would make anyone a bit weak in the knees, but her interest was wholly separate from any simple physical desires. What she wanted was to find out who, exactly, this dude was.

No matter who she asked, they all seemed to have an opinion on this Kujo character. Some said he was a punk who forced his way into the school by threatening the staff or a politician (doubtful). Others said he was some kind of lab experiment on growing the perfect living specimen (for real?). Still others claimed – and this seemed most likely to her – that he was just a smart, quiet guy with a rich family.

One thing was for sure, his intelligence certainly wasn't in question. Despite barely seeming to be there in class, hanging out in the back of the room and rarely participating, he was consistently a top scorer on tests. Most strange of all were his frequent absences, some of them even weeks long, but neither his grades nor his standing with the school ever seemed to suffer as a result.

Above all else, though, a single question burned bright inside Bianca's mind: Why the hell did he wear a high school uniform as a university student? It would be a lie to say he didn't make it work, but who would do such a thing? He obviously had money, so why not just buy new clothes? What sort of attachment did he have to that ratty black coat, that gold chain, and that torn hat?

Well, whatever. She wasn't attending this expense ass school to obsess over a weirdo she'd never even spoken to; she was going to be a biochemist. As curious as she was about his true nature, she'd file it away as just another mystery that would never be solved, kind of like what Vienna sausages are actually made of.

It was pouring down rain by the time her final class of the day let out. Pulling her arm through her coat, she prepared to leave the building only to halt a few centimeters from the door, the painful realization that she had no umbrella washing over her. Oh, good grief…

She looked around, finding no one. Her chance of sharing someone's umbrella just fell to zero. She looked towards the sky, a crack of thunder signaling that the rain had no intention of stopping at any point in the near future. She grabbed fistfuls of brown hair on either side of her hair, pulling at it and grunting like some kind of distressed gorilla, realizing a moment too late someone had approached her from behind.

Standing almost at attention, she slowly turned around to face the person she'd been pondering just a few minutes earlier. Repressing any of the shame and embarrassment she felt, she tried to fake a smile towards the towering stranger. His expression remained stoic, eyes hidden beneath the brim of his hat. Was he mocking her? Trying not to laugh? ...Checking her out?

His arm moved forward, an umbrella held in his hand. Was he offering it to her? Hesitant at first, Bianca couldn't afford to look this gift horse in the mouth, timidly taking hold of the simple clear umbrella. She bowed to him out of courtesy, though before she could actually say her thanks, he'd already opened the door and walked into the downpour.

"Hey, wait!" she called out. Even more surprising, he actually did, looking over his shoulder after a few seconds to see what she wanted. "You gave me...I mean, you're going to-" Upon closer inspection, Kujo didn't seemed to be wet at all. Despite standing motionless in the pouring rain, not a single drop of water had touched him yet.

"What?" he finally said, irritation clear in his voice.

"Well, I mean..." She cleared her throat, having to pry every memory of learning Japanese from her flustered brain in order to communicate clearly. "We should go together. So I can give you this back when I get to my home."

"Keep it," he said curtly and beginning to walk away. She couldn't just leave things like this. Not only had she managed to get him to speak to her, he actually gave her a gift. Unsolvable mystery or not, her scientific instincts told her to investigate this matter as far as she could while the opportunity presented itself.

Quickly deploying the umbrella, she jogged after the stranger to catch up to him. "Thank you," she said, receiving nothing in response. "So, uh, Kujo..." Still nothing. "I mean, that's your name, right? I'm Moskowitz, or just Bianca if you prefer. I know people can have a hard time pronouncing my last name."

His silence somehow managed to say more than any words he could have spoken to her at this point. Speaking to this guy was like trying to navigate an endless minefield with a blindfold and earplugs. One wrong move and it felt like she could actually die, but even a right move didn't seem to make any progress.

Trying her hardest not to sigh in exasperation, she pulled out a cigarette case, popping one of the sticks between her lips. She peered inside the case, unable to find her lighter. As she began to pat her pockets, she could hear a spark from off to her side. Before she even had time to think, the end of her cigarette already glowed red, waiting for her to take a drag.

Was Kujo helping her again? There was no other explanation for it even if she couldn't see him do it. As a gesture of good will, she extended the case towards him, forehead vein popping as he took a pack from his own pocket to retrieve his own. Where hers not good enough for him?

She just couldn't figure this guy out. He ignored her presence (not to mention virtually everyone else she'd ever seen near him) but gave her his umbrella. He wouldn't even acknowledge her as she walked beside him but still lit a cigarette for her. What was going on here?

Well, things couldn't get any worse, so she might as well try the direct approach. "This is all an act, right? Trying to seem all tough and not talk to anyone? You're probably just some nerd who doesn't know how to socialize, so you want to seem cool and unapproachable so no one bothers you. And I bet you wear that uniform because you're afraid of change like some kind of baby."

All that Colombo really paid off, since she managed to profile him based on almost no clues. Jotaro refused to show any outward signs of distress as normal, though, simply walking away from her and hoping she wouldn't follow him. It didn't matter that this was the exact opposite way he needed to go, since he could just circle back after he'd lost her.

Of course, this whole plan came tumbling down after it turned out this was the direction she was headed the whole time. Lowering his head slightly, he held back one of his trademark exclamations in the hopes that ignoring her more would mean she'd take the hint. She did not, however.

"What? Are you mad? Upset? Going to cry? Not going to tell me if I hurt your feelings?" She was starting to feel kind of bad for acting this way, trying to push his buttons and get him to acknowledge her. Her logical mind was telling her to just let the poor guy be, but her jackass mind was telling her to keep right on trucking.

To both of their surprise and bewilderment, he did a sharp 180 on the sidewalk and began walking back the other way. This was the way he should have been traveling to begin with, yes, but it made no sense for him to reverse course now. In truth, he was starting to panic, rationality becoming a rarer commodity with each passing second.

She continued to follow him after this, not even a second, third, and fourth course change managing to shake her conviction. "Did you...get lost?" she finally asked, Jotaro's aimless wandering having led them to a completely different area of the city away from either of their residencies. Instinctively pulling the brim of his cap further down over his eyes, her suspicion was confirmed.

With a regretful sigh, she finally apologized. "Sorry, I'm just stressing you out now and I don't even know why. Here, the place we came from is..." She paused to retrace their steps, drawing on the last few months of navigating the area around campus and waving her hands theatrically to help jog her memory. "Yeah, just go that way, then take a left, then go straight until you see the road. I could lead you back, but you're probably sick of me by now, so I'll just get out of here."

As she turned to leave, Jotaro finally spoke. "It's comfortable." He paused for a moment, turning to the side to avoid facing her. "My uniform. It's comfortable. There's no sense in throwing out good clothes just because they're out of style. So don't go getting any ideas in your head about me."

"Oh. Uh, sure. It looks good. I mean, right, it looks comfortable. I'm going to leave. Thanks for this." She nearly held out the umbrella to specify the "this" in question but thought better of it consider it was still raining.

After she was thoroughly out of earshot, Jotaro let out a long sigh and the inevitable, "Good freakin' grief," he'd been holding in for the better part of half an hour. That woman was trouble, though it was almost refreshing given what his normal definition of trouble was these days. At least this one wasn't a Stand user.

* * *

There's depressingly few stories where Jotaro's wife is the focus. Kind of not surprising considering Araki cared so little about her he couldn't even bother to give her a creative design, but it's still unfortunate.

It was hard coming up with a name, but I eventually came onto Bianca Mosca, one of the greatest British fashion designers who also happened to be born in Italy. I did some thinking, listened to Prince, and decided Araki would want this (he wouldn't since he didn't really want anything for her, but I think he would if someone forced him to make her into a real character).

In typical house style, the story itself is named after a Marvin Gaye album. If you know the story behind how it came to be, it's kind of thematically appropriate given this is only a couple years after all of Jotaro's friends got killed in Egypt. The Speedwagon Foundation is still asking for his help all the time, too, since Joseph is starting to show signs of senility around this point and they've only got so many Stand users on the payroll, so that's not helping his trauma and depression. He's not really in a good place right now and just trying to make it through and do something he feels might make a satisfying life for himself by attending school.

I figured UTokyo would be a good place for them to go. Jotaro's smart as hell, but his family is also super rich, plus he's probably got a full ride to wherever he wants via Speedwagon Foundation grants and scholarships. And in 1997/1998, there's really no better way to show a character is exceptional than to have them attending a prestigious foreign university (even now it would still be pretty noteworthy to get accepted here as a random American).

I've always hated how so many people take all of Jotaro's characterization at face value and assume he really is this badass tough guy who doesn't care about anything. He's not. Whether it was intentional or not, it's pretty clear by reading between the lines that he's just this weird autistic nerd who's been bullied for most of his life and just wants to be left alone. A big part of this is going to be coaxing him out of his shell a bit and mellowing out into the guy we see in DiU.

He's pulling a J. Geil here to keep himself dry. The only way I could ever see the actual powers of Hanged Man meshing with the initial description we get would be sending it into puddles ahead of where he's walking so that his Stand could shield him from everything from the reflection. That's basically Star Platinum now, and it's a handy way to confirm Bianca can't see Stands.

Nothing else to say here. No clue how many chapters this is going to be, but I doubt it'll make 10. Just going to be something short and kind of light in between other stuff I'm doing. Thanks for reading. Always remember to bring a backup umbrella.


	2. Catching a Movie

_Bianca takes Jotaro to see a movie and talks about Italian food._

* * *

"Want to go see a movie?" Jotaro glanced over toward Bianca as they walked away from the school together. "There's that American movie theater not far from here, right? You seem like the kind of guy who'd be into that."

The following few weeks from their first encounter proved to be interesting for the two of them. It was hard to really call them friends, per se, given how casual their interactions had been. They rarely spoke of anything much deeper than interesting articles in magazines, assignments in class, or bizarre weather phenomena when they decided to leave the building at the same time. Sometimes they didn't even speak at all, simply having grown used to the other's presence as they made the short walk toward the street before parting ways.

Today, however, Bianca tried something a bit different. They'd gotten to a place of relative comfort with each other, so why not make an effort to turn this burly man into a friend? Truth be told, she didn't have too many of those in Japan right now, and the thought of someone as big and intimidating having her back as she continued to get her bearings in an unfamiliar country was a reassuring image.

She received no response at first, not an entirely unexpected result. "No problem if you don't want to. You just kind of always gave off that Clint Eastwood vibe, so I thought you might be a fan of our movies."

Normally, Jotaro would continue to ignore her, maybe even give a firm no to the situation. But now she'd just compared him to one of his favorite movie stars and things got a bit more complicated. It was a pretty nice thing to say, so he almost felt obligated to throw her a bone today. Weighing his options between heading home (homework, reading about dolphins) and going to the theater (sitting through previews, almost certainly being mistaken for a couple), there seemed to be a clear winner. And yet…

"Fine," he said gruffly. "What's playing?"

"That new movie Goodfellas, I think. Kind of surprised since it only came out this year. Figured it usually took longer." She laughed. "Probably seems kind of stereotypical, me being Italian and all. And, no, my family's not in the mob, you don't have to ask."

"Wasn't going to," he said. To be perfectly honest, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind before. Either way, people were more than just who their family was and they deserved a chance to prove that. Hell, even the child of someone as evil as DIO would deserve that kind of chance, not that anyone like that existed beyond the realm of the hypothetical.

"Imagine if it was your family that was the mob," she said, still laughing at the idea.

"They're not," he replied, unable to detect the sarcasm in her statement. "As far as I know, the shadiest person in my family is my grandfather. He works in real estate in New York."

"Maybe we've met before, then," she joked.

Of course, Jotaro assumed she was being serious. "You might. Joestar Realty is pretty big."

She came to a halt upon hearing that name, Jotaro swearing he could almost hear a cartoonish tire-squeal as she did. "Hold on now. Are you saying you're related to the Joestars?"

"Guess I never mentioned it before," he said, acting as if it was no big deal.

"Your family must be loaded. No wonder you can just skip class all the time."

"That's family business," he said sternly. "If it was up to me, I'd show up more." He was being quite a bit more talkative today compared to most others. Not even just talkative but a lot more open about himself and his private life. If she didn't know any better, she might even think he was starting to trust her.

"Only 'family business' I've ever been a part of was a lemonade stand with my cousins. You know we were selling something good when the cops showed up and started arresting people." Frustratingly, she decided to end the story there rather than expand on any of the clearly much-needed details, Jotaro unsure of how to ask her to continue. He was mostly just trying to understand how one thing led to the other.

It wasn't much longer until they reached the upscale theater, the movie in question indeed being shown there. They bought their tickets from a very tired attendant and headed towards concessions to grab some popcorn. "I've never been here before," Bianca said. "Do you think they'll have subtitles over the English or have it dubbed in Japanese?"

"Either one's fine," he said. "I speak English well enough."

"Guess you would if you've got family in America." Reaching the counter, she asked the woman staffing, "One large popcorn and two colas, please." She noticed Jotaro stiffen slightly after that. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like the idea of sharing one bag of popcorn," he explained. "Seems crowded. Besides, what if we touched each other by mistake? Have you even washed your hands recently? You opened the door to this place with your left hand, so you should at least not use that one."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She signaled to the worker as she was shoveling corn into a bag. "Excuse me, could you split that between two bags?"

"I guess this isn't a date," she said with a small laugh, the two of them looking to each other as a wave of discomfort hit them all at once. Regardless, they'd gotten what they wanted and headed into the darkened room to watch the movie. It was, in fact, subtitled.

Approximately two hours later, they emerged from the theater back onto the street. Bianca felt somewhat guilty for seemingly pushing Jotaro into this, having gotten the feeling he was kind of bored during the whole proceedings. He kept a straight face during the entire screening, even during the shocking bits. Once the credits began to roll, he stood up almost immediately, too, though that could have just been for the sake of needing to move around.

"Sorry if that wasn't your thing," she said, placing a cigarette between her lips and having it lit in a flash by Jotaro as he'd taken to doing for her.

"It was pretty good," he said, surprising her. "The way they used music was impressive."

"Definitely. I think my favorite part was where they were cooking in prison, though. Kind of reminded me of my family reunions. I always helped my mom cook before it went down." She nudged him in the side. "Hey, come over next weekend and I'll make you something like that. I've been needing an excuse to cook a real meal lately." Gesture of kindness or not, she'd been living off takeout and cup ramen out of convenience for way too long to let the motivation for a home cooked meal slip away.

He reacted to that suggestion a bit like a cat that had just been cornered. Going to a movie was one thing, but coming over for dinner? "No," he said bluntly.

"What? I'm real good at cooking. It's not a problem."

"I don't like the idea of you cooking for me. This was already too close to a date."

She blew a long, exaggerated raspberry and started to laugh. "Come on. I don't want to date you. I barely even know anything about you. Besides, you're kind of a weirdo, and a jerk sometimes, and you disappear all the time without telling anyone, and what's with your hat? It's-"

"I get it," he said, adding a, "Good grief," with a small shake of his head. "Fine, we can eat together. Just don't try anything."

"You wish," she said, quickly lying, "And anyway, I already have a boyfriend back in America. He's, like, way more attractive than you. Taller, too."

"Congratulations," he said dryly.

Despite appearances from before, it was starting to become harder to tell whether their relationship had progressed at all.

* * *

Decided to put this up pretty shortly after the last one. Might even go ahead and post all of these in the span of about a month. I don't think it'll last very long.

Might be pushing believability that they can be watching Goodfellas in Japan less than a month since it came out in America, but it seemed appropriate given both their interests and I needed an excuse to lead into the next chapter. I know a lot of theaters get stuff not too long after they come out these days, but I couldn't tell you how it worked back in 1990. This wouldn't be the first time historical events weren't presented in a truthful way in this franchise, though.

Could you imagine what it would be like if DIO had a kid? Or even multiple kids? That's a pretty fucked up thought. Still, Jotaro seems like a cool guy. I bet any hypothetical child would be given the chance to prove their lack of ill-intent before they got taken out. You could probably write a whole series about someone like that. Wonder if Araki's ever thought to do so.

I figure Jotaro's experiences traveling to Cairo taught him to be wary of food. He won't eat anything he hasn't watched be prepared or can't verify the origin of anymore. In that way, it's kind of a big thing he'd be willing to trust Bianca to cook for him. Wonder if that'll mean anything later on.

All I've got for now. Look for the next chapter fairly soon. Thanks for reading. Always remember to not use too many onions in the sauce.


	3. A Nice Dinner

_Bianca makes dinner for Jotaro._

* * *

6:57 Friday evening. Jotaro would be there any minute. She thought she was being clever sending him away after classes ended and telling him to occupy himself until 7:00, but facing down a full spaghetti dinner with the meager instruments she had on hand had proved to be more of a challenge than she'd expected. If there was any solace to be found in all of this, it was that she had the good sense to make herself up before starting on the food. At least that was taken care of.

Against all odds, she managed to make a respectable dinner with two hotplates and a toaster oven as her only means of cooking. While it wasn't exactly the same as her mother's (though that might have as much to do with the difference in ingredients between the two countries as it did with her ability), it was still pretty damn good. Hopefully good enough to make that stoic giant a little less stoic.

With the precision of someone who had been standing outside the door waiting for the exact moment of 7:00 PM, three hard knocks came from outside the cramped apartment. "Be right there!" Bianca called, adding a few finishing touches to the sauced pasta so it would be ready to eat.

Instead of heading straight for the door, she made a detour to the bathroom to check the status of her makeup and to ensure nothing had splashed onto her pink blouse. Adjusting a few hair and touching up her lipstick, she darted for the entrance and unlocked the door. Taking a quick breath to compose herself, she opened it to a rather unexpected sight.

"Here," Jotaro said, holding a very simple collection of white, blue, and yellow flowers. "Someone told me to bring these. Don't know why. Not like this is a date." Despite his instincts saying otherwise, he'd chosen to trust Polnareff's recommendation and hoped he wasn't just playing a trick on him. Say what you might about the Frenchman (and there's a lot that could be said), he did have at least some experience dealing with women.

"Can I come in?" he finally asked after several seconds of stunned silence.

"Oh, uh, yeah," she finally replied, taking his gift and walking off to find something large enough to place them in. "You can hang your coat up if you like. Or keep it on. Whatever you're into." Digging through her cupboard, she managed to find a tall glass to precariously hold the flowers for the evening. "Take a seat. I'll get everything ready."

As he moved towards a small card table dressed as a dinner table in a red cotton tablecloth after bypassing the coat rack, Jotaro inspected the apartment around him. To say it was small would be an understatement, as the whole thing was nothing more than a single room and a bathroom off to the side. Be that as it may, she made remarkably good use of the space, managing to fit a convertible couch/futon, writing desk, and the aforementioned table in a space that couldn't be more than twelve feet in length on either side.

He sat down just as Bianca placed the food down in front of him. It was an impressive nest of reddish-orange angel hair covered in minced beef and pork in tomato sauce flanked by a large hunk of garlic bread, all piping hot from her impeccable (or lucky) timing. She took out two glasses, pouring some red wine and saying, "Hope it meets your standards. Haven't seen any Italian places around here, so I don't really know what those standards would be, but you get the point."

Jotaro took the glass in hand, swirling the liquid and inhaling the aroma. In truth, he knew absolutely nothing about wine. It mostly just smelled like alcohol. A sip proved it tasted alright, though he still preferred beer.

Biance moved her pasta around the plate, watching Jotaro like a hawk as he went in for a bite. Placing a forkful into his mouth, he paused, letting out what seemed to be an approving hum before continuing to eat. "Opinions?" she asked.

"It's good," he replied. "There's a lot of meat, which is good. I like the amount of garlic, too. It's not overpowering so it goes well with the tomato sauce."

"See why I needed an excuse to make some of this?" He nodded, continuing to eat as she took her first bite, impressed with her own skill now that she was able to taste the finished product. "Mind if I ask you something?" He looked up to acknowledge her. "Where do you always go when you're not in class? It's been bugging me."

"Family business," he replied, declining to explain his work for the Speedwagon Foundation any further.

"With your grandfather or…?"

"It's something else." Suddenly, he set his fork down. "Good grief," he said with a shake of his head.

"What?" A look of horror overtook her face. "Was it a tough vegetable? I knew I should have sautéed longer before I turned it into sauce."

"No, I just forgot what day it is. Or, what day it is in New York." She seemed confused by that, so he explained. "It's the old man's birthday and I need to call him pretty soon. I'll probably be asleep in a few hours and he'll pass out by the time it's morning here since he's a geezer. If I don't do it soon, I'll miss the day entirely."

She waved a hand, gesturing towards her kitchen area. "No problem. Use my phone if you want."

"It's fine. We should finish here first."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Go call your grandpa and tell him happy birthday. I want to see what you're like when you're all sweet and caring." With a grunt, he reluctantly stood up from his chair and walked to the phone, Bianca obviously enjoying the interaction she was playing out in her head.

The phone rang several times before someone finally picked up. "Hello? Hello?"

"Old man, it's me."

"Huh? Hello? Speak up! My ears aren't as good as they used to be!"

With a sigh, he had to repeat himself. "Good grief. Hey, old man. It's Jotaro."

"Oh, Jotaro. It's nice to hear from you. And on my birthday, too. That's a surprise."

"I wouldn't be bothering you if it wasn't."

"Call whenever you like," he said. "It's good to talk to you. You've been so busy ever since you started school, and all the work you've been doing on the side. Sorry we've had to leave it all to you."

"It's fine. Someone's got to take care of that stuff."

"Don't worry. They tell me they're looking for more people who can join, so we'll stop bothering you soon."

"Whatever. Anyway, I just felt like making sure you hadn't dropped dead yet."

He laughed. "I'll be around for a good long while."

"We should still probably get the inheritance figured out. You've been putting it off even though my mom keeps telling you to get that shit in order."

"We'll take care of it," he said in a way that made it clear he would not take care of it. "More importantly, how's school? Have you made any friends?"

"You talk like I'm some first grader, or something. I'm at a university, so I'm not exactly focused on making friends." A single glance towards Bianca revealed her less than enthused reaction towards that comment, prompting him to add, "But if you really want to know, I was in the middle of dinner with one before I called you. I'm using her phone."

"Oh, that's why I didn't recognize that number." He began to laugh in a way that only the uncomfortable intersection between an old man and a nosy relative could achieve. "More importantly, it sounded like you said you were having dinner with a woman." Jotaro sighed, already knowing it was a mistake to bring that up. "That's my grandson. You always were popular with the girls in high school, weren't you? You never really seemed interested in any of them, though, so we were starting to worry."

He quickly caught himself. "Not that we'd need to worry about anything," he said with a laugh. "There's plenty of men out there who aren't interested in women. In fact, back in the day, you could say I was pretty popular in that crowd. There was an old friend of mine by the name of Caesar; he was a real man's man, that one. I remember a time when-"

"Good freaking grief," Jotaro said, having no interest in listening to his grandfather's sexploits during his youth.

"Right, right," he said with a laugh.

"Anyway, how's grandma?"

"As lively as ever. She's out planning a...a, er...party. That was the word I couldn't remember. That's been happening so often lately." He chuckled to himself, evidently finding amusement in a situation that was anything but. "I think we're going to have some juicy t-bone steaks. I'm really excited."

"You know you can't eat those anymore. You lost all your teeth."

He scoffed, waving his arm in the air despite the fact no one was around to see him on the other end of the line. "I'm Joseph Joestar! I'll stop eating my favorite food the day I die! And I don't plan on doing that for at least another decade!"

"Whatever," he replied. "Just don't overdo it. It would suck for everyone if you kicked the bucket because you choked on a huge ass piece of meat."

"I'll be careful," he said. "It's nice that you called."

"It's not a big deal. I should go now before the food gets cold."

"What?" he yelled. "Holy shit! You were still in the middle of dinner when you called me? Jotaro, what's wrong with you? You can't just leave a woman at the table to go talk to your grandfather! Haven't you been on a single date in your life?" In fact, he had not.

"I'm hanging up now," he said plainly.

"Yes, get back to her! Honestly, how are you my grandson? Every Joestar man knows better than to leave a young lady waiting like that. You need to hang up this phone right now and-" He did just that.

"Sorry," Jotaro said as he returned to his seat. "That was probably rude."

"Dinner and a show," she replied coyly. "He sounds in high spirits."

"Seems that way. We almost lost him a few years back, but he managed to recover. Doesn't seem like it's affected him all that much. He probably will hang on for a while." He shook his head at the absurd luck that man possessed. "Even walked away from five plane crashes now."

"Are you sure he's not just immortal?" she asked in amazement. "How do you even get into that many crashes in the first place?"

"Hell if I know. I just try not to fly with him if I can help it since I was there for two of them."

"Are you sure _you're_ not immortal?" It was at this point Bianca was forced to question how the man sitting in front of her...was real. He was built like a house, could magically avoid getting drenched in rain, super fussy about the particulars of things, and was apparently locked in a death match with aircrafts spanning generations.

"Immortality is overrated," he said, furthering her bafflement. "Just turns you into a pompous ass. You know, if it was real."

"You're pretty strange, Jotaro," she told him. "Is it alright for me to call you that? I know Japanese people are different when it comes to names compared to Americans."

"It's fine," he said. They were familiar enough for that by now. Plus, he didn't really care what she called him, so long as it wasn't-

"Hey, I just realized something. You're 'Jotaro' and 'Kujo'. Does anyone ever call you JoJo?"

"A few," he answered honestly. While he'd been neutral to that name in his teenage years, he'd grown far less receptive to it as an adult. At best it was passe, but as worst it sounded like he was being mocked, mostly because that's usually what people called him when they were trying to mock him and it had finally gotten old.

Thankfully, she dropped it pretty quickly. "Weird coincidence," she said before taking a bite out of some bread. The rest of the night went off without issue, the two finishing a nice meal together and sitting down on the couch to watch some variety shows on a small TV before Jotaro headed home. All in all, it was a pretty nice time.

* * *

Took a bit longer than I would have liked, but the third chapter finally happened. Had a lot of other things to worry about and didn't have the time to get back to it until now.

Joseph's starting to show his age. It's only about five or so years out from DiU, so I figure his dementia is starting to set in now. I always kind of figured it was his being dead for a few minutes during the DIO fight that caused it, since his brain would have been dying from lack of oxygen during that entire time but it just took a while to set in with Hamon propping him up. That or the newest plane crash rattled his brain a bit.

Someone got all mad at me for correctly pegging Jotaro as the weird, awkward, fussy, autistic nerd who's way too into dolphins that he canonically is for some reason. Can't really tell whether they think that's an insult or they just hate autistics like Jotaro (and me), but we'll probably never know for certain. Personally, I think a character who acts tough by virtue of not being able to properly express himself and bumbles his way to victory through a combination of stubbornness and bluffing as hard as humanly possible is way more interesting and a more true successor to Joseph than believing Araki really did just intend to play the stoic badass who's super strong, super fast, super handsome, super cool, and basically flawless trope straight all along.

Kind of makes me want to systematically dismantle all of his badass moments just to prove a point. Maybe next chapter he'll get to show how terrible he is at video games when Joseph isn't cheating for him or how he legitimately has no idea how to play poker.

As far as next chapter, it'll probably come out quicker than this one now that I've got a backlog of stuff for my other stories. Really been Rohaning it lately so I've always got things to go in advance.

Not much else to report. Next one is probably going to have something slightly more significant happen. Thanks for reading. Always remember to use real San Marzano tomatoes in your sauce whenever possible.


	4. New Clothes

_After a disastrous mission with the Speedwagon Foundation leaves Jotaro's signature outfit in shambles, Bianca forces him to buy something new to wear._

* * *

"Good grief," he said from inside the changing room.

"You've said that ten times now," Bianca chided him from the other side of the door. "I'm not letting you run around in that raggedy outfit for another day. Honestly, how did you even get it so ripped up while you were out for a week? Pick a fight with a wood chipper or something?"

Jotaro wordlessly finished dressing himself before emerging, eyes downcast as he pulled the brim of a brand new over them. "Uncomfortable," he murmured, his skin crawling at the feeling of unfamiliar clothes.

"You look really good, though," she said, taking in his new ensemble. It had been her insistence that he try to switch from all black to something lighter, eventually compromising on a charcoal. Though his new coat and hat complied with that, he'd gone back to standard with a new pair of black pants. The most dramatic change, however, was the switch to a white collared shirt and black vest, two things that would definitely take some getting used to.

Checking himself in the mirror, though, he had to agree it wasn't exactly a bad look. "Let's just pay," he said, approaching the counter.

"You sure you're good with this? There's a whole store out there and plenty more after that."

"It's fine." Even if he had been lying, his family had enough money to allow for 1,000,000 yen worth of experimenting. Immediately after the payment cleared and the two stepped outside of the store, Jotaro grabbed his new hat by the brim, removed it from his head, and ripped the back out with his bare hand.

"Why do you always do that?" she asked as he replaced it on his head.

"Fits better," he replied simply. He dug around on himself for any tags or stickers on the rest of his clothes, plucking them off as Bianca did the same. Smoothing out his coat, Jotaro looked up and down the row of stores on the street. "Did you find a jewelry shop?" he asked.

"There should be one about a block over," she replied. "Speaking of which, I got you this." Taking a small box from her pocket, she handed it to Jotaro to open. "It was actually mine first since they were my favorite animal when I was younger, but I don't wear it anymore so I figured you could have it if you wanted. It's cool if you don't since we're already going to get you some new pins, but I though you might want to try it."

Opening the box, he held a small golden pin in the shape of a dolphin between his fingers. Coincidentally, it was roughly bent in the shape a J. "You probably don't like it, right? It's fine."

Almost immediately, Jotaro placed the pin into his hat off to the right side. "Thank you," he said, pocketing the box it came in. Seeing her stunned reaction to him actually accepting a gift, he added, "They're my favorite, too." He motioned down the sidewalk with his head. "Come on. You're the only one who knows the way."

"Right," she said, snapping out of her daze and starting to walk. It was rare to hear Jotaro be so candid about things like that. The most acknowledgment most would get in the rare instances he asked for something would be a nod of approval. It was equally rare for Bianca to want so badly for someone to like a gift she gave, though more and more of those kinds of situations seemed to be popping up around this man.

"Anyway," she said to cast aside her own growing feelings of affection, "you sure you're okay with that? You seemed really weird about it in the store."

"Just need some time to get used to it," he replied. "It's always like this when I first get new clothes."

"It's kind of slimming, you know? Like, you're still really buff, but now you're kind of, I don't know, martial artist instead of bodybuilder, if that makes sense."

"Not really," he said bluntly, getting a laugh out of her in the process. Was he funny now? He was distinctly aware of the fact people thought him to be cool what with all of his rad one liners and whatnot, but he'd never really thought of himself as funny.

It wasn't long until they reached the high-end jewelry shop Bianca had looked up prior to their outing. It had a decidedly classier atmosphere compared to where he normally shopped for accessories, the ritzy clientèle and employees immediately turning towards the American woman and her giant escort the moment they walked through the door.

The uncomfortable looks and the attendants constantly asking if they needed help as they browsed seemed to indicate they weren't exactly welcome in the establishment. They were both well dressed, so it didn't make a lot of sense to either of them, but the feeling was there all the same. Unfortunately, Jotaro had encountered this kind of behavior before, resolving to simply ignore it and do what needed doing.

They went about shopping as if nothing was wrong, comparing different pins against different parts of Jotaro's attire before finally settling on a few different choices. A golden star to complete the "JO" on his hat, two small golden hearts for the right side of his collar, and a golden pocket watch of all things to put in the left side of his vest, chain hanging from a button in the middle.

Before they stepped out the door to the relief of everyone manning the shop, Jotaro turned to Bianca. "You should pick something, too," he told her.

"I'm fine," she insisted, not really having any clue as to what she'd pick even if given the option.

"You got me something, so I should get you something. That's fair."

"I guess, but I don't know where to start with all of this." She looked around the store for ideas. Gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, uncomfortable employees. None of it really seemed all that appealing. Upon turning back to Jotaro, though, she suddenly had an idea.

"Got it. Give me that old chain from your coat." He quirked an eyebrow. "The one on your black coat. I gave you an old pin, so you can give me something old you own."

"What would you do with it?" he asked, trying to parse her logic.

"I'll figure something out," she replied. "If that's okay with you, though, I'd like it."

Without another word, Jotaro reached into his pocket and produced the chain from nowhere, handing it to a dumbfounded Bianca. "You just carry this around with you all the time?" He shrugged in response. Somehow, this made her laugh once again. Being funny seemed to have its advantages, he concluded.

* * *

I really might be Rohaning it lately with how much I've gotten done the last few months. Nothing that actually matters like the book I'm trying to write or a huge backlog of work, mind you, but all of this bullshit. Lots of Minesweeper for some fucking reason, too.

Jotaro's finally got some new clothes. If I was more pretentious, I'd point out how his clinging to his old high school uniform is a desire to keep things as they were for fear of forgetting his friends or his reason for fighting while Bianca encouraging him to change symbolizes his maturing world view and personality as well as a chance at finally becoming the more open and complete person we see by DiU as his outfit shifts from black to gray to white, but I'm not going to do that. I just thought he'd look good in gray.

We don't get enough of Jotaro feeling alienated because he's mixed race and gigantic even though that's the most likely reason for his major personality shift between middle and high school. Only very briefly touched on it at the end here, but it's a good thing to acknowledge now and again to help dig into the nuances of the character that people like to ignore.

Nothing more to report on this. Thanks for reading. Always remember to dolphins.


	5. Day Trip

_Jotaro and Bianca have a nice day out at the aquarium._

* * *

After an arduous train ride across the city, Jotaro and Bianca had finally made it to the aquarium. There were closer options to their school, of course, but Jotaro had been mentioning this one specifically for the last two weeks. Apparently, they had a rare species of shark on display that he wanted to go see.

"You owe me for this one," Bianca said, cracking her back and trying to wake up the rest of her body, the new chain bracelet on her wrist jingly as she moved. After sitting for well over an hour total between the two lines they had to take to get there, walking around would definitely do her some good.

Jotaro nodded in acknowledgment, already headed towards the entrance. He didn't want to waste any time in scoping out the fish he came here for. "What's the name of the thing again?" she asked as she caught up.

"Natal shyshark," he replied. "They're endangered. This aquarium might be the only one in Japan that has a specimen."

"How'd it get a name like 'shyshark'?"

"Apparently, they wrap their tails around their faces when they're threatened."

"That's not fair," she lamented as they were allowed entry into the building. "I want to see that, but I don't want to scare a shark. Whose idea was it to make a shark act cute in a way only assholes could enjoy?"

"It's irritating," he agreed, having apparently encountered this same moral quandary previously. Taking a map from a kiosk and bypassing a guide, they made their way through the building towards their target, making sure to stop and admire some of the other fish on display while they were there.

Compared to the train ride, the ten minutes spent walking across the aquarium grounds was nothing. After spending a particularly long detour admiring some red starfish, they finally came upon what they were there to see. "It's small!" Bianca exclaimed. "Why is it so small? That's not fair."

The gray and brown-speckled shark leisurely swam around its tank, occasionally appearing to look at the two humans admiring it before quickly continuing on its way. Jotaro took out a notebook and began writing down different observations, explaining, "I've heard they might be importing a second one to try and help them breed in captivity. Still, it's not likely. They're native to South Africa, so the fact there's even on in Japan now is pretty unexpected."

"I hope things work out. What's causing them to die out?"

"Over fishing and habitat destruction." From the way his jaw clenched upon saying this, it was obvious he wasn't happy. Specifically, he was thinking of using the Stand arrow they recovered from DIO on various endangered creatures to help them protect themselves from humans, though they plan would likely end in disaster. Iggy was one thing, but random wild animals with Stand powers would cause some problems.

"Business as usual." She shook her head. "It's kind of sad. This little guy might be safe here, but he's probably going to spend his whole life in a tank because it's too dangerous to just swim free. How would you feel in that situation?"

He raised an eyebrow. "In what way?"

"Like, you're stuck in a place you didn't choose and have everything decided for you, but you're still pretty much safe and secure forever. I've kind of thought about stuff like that before and I don't really have a good answer. Always makes me sad."

Though his silence might at first appear to be his usual brand of stoicism, it had more to do with how hard that existential pondering hit. What was the correct answer if the question was freedom versus security? Was either answer even correct? Did it even matter if you weren't given a choice in the matter to begin with? If he thought too hard about it, he'd be in danger of drawing some comparisons to his own life.

Bianca shrugged, saying, "I guess he might at least have a friend soon if they can get another. It might not change things, but I bet it's at least a little less lonely."

"Yeah," he agreed. They watched the shark navigate its enclosure for a few more wordless minutes before deciding to move on. After an hour or so of observing the different fish (and a few dolphins, naturally), Jotaro finally spoke up to say, "There's a restaurant next door."

"I could eat," she replied, understanding him to be asking if she was hungry. While the revelation that the place in question happened to be a sushi shop might not have been surprising given their proximity to the ocean, it was still pretty ironic.

"I was kind of hoping I'd get to try some of this while I was here," Bianca said, inspecting a piece of salmon nigiri before putting it in her mouth. Swallowing, she added, "There's, like, one or two places around me that have sushi, but I wanted to see what the real deal was like. I like it."

Jotaro didn't respond, only looking intently at the food before him. "I don't think they're from the aquarium," she said, having become somewhat adept at reading his moods.

"Probably not," he agreed, though the fear of accidentally consuming an endangered fish still floated in the background. Resolving to come back here specifically to beat the intestines out of the chef if he found out they were poaching from the aquarium, he ate a piece of fatty tuna before pointing to a ball of wasabi. "Did you try that yet?"

"No," Bianca replied, foolishly charging in to eat the whole thing as if it was just another piece of sushi. Before Jotaro even had time to warn her not to do exactly that, her mouth was already engulfed in flames. Normally, she'd be telling him off for tricking her into eating it, but she was in far too much pain to speak.

It was hard to be mad, though. For possibly the first time since they met, she was hearing him laugh. It wasn't much, but that baritone chuckle was worth a thousand globs of wasabi straight down the throat. She pointed towards him weakly with a smile. "You laughed," she croaked out, considering it a victory in her quest to break through his shell.

"You're hearing things," he replied, steeling himself and passing her a glass of water. After approximately 80 more of them, Bianca had mostly recovered from the ordeal, happily returning to eating as if nothing had happened. She truly was a more fearsome opponent than any Stand user Jotaro had come in contact with.

It would be several hours worth of talking and mulling about the city before they thought to return home. All in all, it was a pretty good day. At least, until they found out the trains had stopped running.

"Who does maintenance on the tracks this early?" Bianca complained, a pair of blue pumps hanging in her hand as she navigated the sidewalk in bare feet. "Don't they know people need to get places? What do they expect us to do now? It's miles back to school."

"Call a taxi," Jotaro said, trying to suggest it once more after an initial refusal.

"Way too expensive for this far. I'd rather have blisters than pay all of that. And you already took care of lunch and admission to the aquarium, so don't even offer. I can't mooch off you just because your family's rich."

It was a bit of a foolish sentiment, at least in his opinion, but pride was pride. Her stubbornness wasn't exactly off putting; he'd grown used to it, if nothing else. Even so, he didn't want to watch her step on rocks all the way back.

"Here," Jotaro finally said as he turned his back to her. "Get on."

It took her several seconds to process what he was offering, eventually turning her face a bright pink. "Come on," she said with a wave of her hand. "I'm not a kid. It's fine."

"You're bleeding," he observed. "You stepped on something sharp earlier. You could actually hurt yourself if you keep walking on it like that, so just let me carry you. Pretend it's an apology for the wasabi if you have to."

He wasn't wrong. Her sock was soaking up most of it for now, but it was starting to hurt really damn bad with each step. A bit reluctantly, she put her arms around his neck and allowed him to lift her up. "Don't try anything funny with your hands," she said, joking mostly to try and alleviate her own embarrassment.

"Good grief," he said, not even having entertained the thought. As he started walking, he asked, "Do you have any bandages at your apartment? If not, I'll go get some after I drop you off."

"Yeah, I bought a first aid kit," she said, tightening her arms slightly almost unconsciously. She'd always been aware of the fact Jotaro was both incredibly and incredibly strong, but seeing it in action up close like this was...different.

All of that mixed with this subtle, intense compassion. He tried to hide it, but over the last few months, she'd come to see just how deeply he felt things all the time. Whether it was worrying over his grandfather or feeling remorse for endangered animals, Jotaro truly did care for others even if he was unwilling or, as seemed more likely, unable to show it all the time.

As the sun began to set on their long walk back to school, she couldn't help but think she might really be falling in love with this man.

* * *

Major developments this time. We're starting to close in on the endgame which just makes all of this even more sad.

Since this is set in the early 90's, the shyshark hadn't been declared as critically endangered yet. But it is now, so just be aware of that. I'm not sure if any aquariums in Japan have ever had one of them on display, but they're pretty cute so I wanted to use it.

I was thinking earlier how it's really extra shit that Araki decided we never needed to care about Jotaro's wife, since writing all of this just makes me want to have them tag teaming as Stand users on a mission. Might have to fix that one day, but I've got enough going on right now already.

Nothing more to report. Next couple chapters are probably going to be the ones where things start popping off. Thanks for reading. Always remember to pace yourself with wasabi.


	6. Tempura

_Bianca and Jotaro celebrate a long weekend with tempura and talk of old cartoons._

* * *

Classes had finally ended for the day, leaving the two with nothing but free time for the foreseeable future. Not only was it a weekend, they had the day off the following Monday for various weasel-related reasons. As usual, though, this freedom was a double-edged sword of having nothing in particular to do with their time.

"Let's get soba," Jotaro suggested as they walked down Tokyo's busy sidewalks together.

Bianca groaned at this. "Come on. If we're going out to eat, let's at least make it something like tempura. Soba's nice, but we've got a long weekend. Let's celebrate a little."

"Kind of morbid to celebrate something like that," he replied, thinking back to the horrific scene that allowed them that extra day."

"I guess. Still, tempura. Let's make it happen."

"You know you can get some tempura with your soba, right?"

"Yeah, but it's not the same as a whole meal. You know that." She clenched her fist. "Getting to sit up at that counter while the chef fries everything fresh right in front of you. I saw it in a detective show once and I've been wanting to do it ever since I got here. I think it was about a detective. I might be mistaken."

Tempura _was_ good, and it was approved by a maybe-detective on TV. It's hard to do better than that. They didn't have to walk far to find a suitable restaurant, entering the rustic little eatery and taking a seat at the counter just as Bianca had always dreamed.

They were in that time after lunch but before work would typically let out for the day, so they were about the only two people in the building besides the staff. As the chef began frying their shrimp, the two engaged in spirited (from Bianca's side of things) conversation on old cartoons.

"And they didn't really go into it in the show, but he was actually a criminal before he got his superpowers, but he became a good guy when his old crew left him for dead after a failed robbery. Honestly, the show wasn't that good, but it got me to read some of the comics, and they're pretty great. Really hard to find any of the newer issues in Japan."

"He sounds kind of like some guy my grandpa likes, only he was on a team with three other people."

"Oh, yeah, that guy. Always liked his big rocky friend best. Still, Plastic Man's way funnier than Mr. Fantastic. Probably, like, top ten superheroes. Still not as cool as Swamp Thing, though. He's made of swamp."

"If you want, I could probably get the old man to let you read some of his collection when you're back in New York. He's been collecting them since he was a kid back in the 30's. Probably has a warehouse full of them by now."

"You really think he'd let me?" she asked, eyes lighting up like she was a kid. "That would be amazing. Thank you."

"Eat your food," he said as their first course was served to them. He always felt a little uncomfortable when people thanked him. It's not like it was a big deal; just had to ask the old man for a favor. Besides, they were at a point where they should be able to do things for each other without needing the formality of thank yous. That's what he thought, at least.

After taking a moment to savor the crispy breading and savory shrimp she'd just shoved into her mouth, Bianca turned back to Jotaro to ask, "What kind of cartoons did you watch as a kid? I've always been kind of curious about what shows get played in other countries."

"I didn't watch many cartoons. My mom has lots of videos of TV shows she liked from America, so it was mostly stuff like Columbo or Dragnet. I did like Gundam, though."

"That's the one with the big robots, right? I think I've seen some figures in stores."

He nodded, eating a piece of fried eggplant before continuing. "I thought it was interesting since it wasn't really about the robots. Not entirely. A lot of it focused on the main character having to deal with being a kid in war and how rough that is."

"I take it you can relate," she said.

"I've never been in a war," he told her, a bit irritated at the assumption.

"No, but I kind of get the feeling you've been through some rough stuff in the past, too." He merely grunted in response, not really giving an indication of agreement or dissent. "Sorry. Probably too personal."

The rest of the meal was a bit awkward, neither very confident in presenting a new topic of conversation to speak about. Bianca was worried she'd upset her friend by probing too deeply into his personal demons while Jotaro tried to sort out his own feelings on the matter while trying to find the words to apologize for his curtness.

By the end, though, things had somewhat returned to normal. "Told you tempura was the way to go," Bianca said as they headed out. "I didn't even know you could make a leaf taste like that."

"Yeah, but it's only certain kinds of leaves. Just grabbing one off a tree won't do it." He'd learned that the hard way when he was younger.

"Those aren't even fried," she said with a dismissive wave. Looking up at the sky, she realized they must have been in the restaurant for longer than planned considering the sun was already beginning to set. Then again, it was currently November, so it wasn't that uncommon for it to be dark by around 6:00 PM.

"Guess we better head home soon," she told him. It was a bit disappointing, especially given the sour note they'd been left with for a good portion of their time together that day. She'd much prefer to do something fun before they split up.

The sound of barking drew their attention to the other side of the street, a small black and white Boston terrier on a leash apparently incredibly pissed at something close to them. "Klaus, bad!" a lady holding him said. "It's just a cat."

Since reason didn't typically work on dogs, he continued to bark despite the human's protest. It was a fairly amusing scene given how small he was, but things quickly took a turn for the much less amusing. Through her carelessness, the woman lost her grip on the dog's leash, allowing him to run through the street to try and menace a stray calico not far off.

A car blasted its horn, the dog freezing up in the center of the road. In a panic, it turned to face the vehicle as it drove down the road. A very bad move.

Reacting almost on instinct, Jotaro immediately dashed into the road, Bianca too stunned to even muster a response as she watched helplessly from the sidewalk. In the back of his mind, he couldn't deny how contrived this probably was. That dog just had to look enough like Iggy that saving it or letting it die would feel like a moral duty, didn't it?

In order to rescue the animal, though, he'd have to actually make it to the center of the two lanes of traffic. As anyone who's ever entered a large city could tell you, though, those cars don't tend to stop, making it more than likely Jotaro would just share the dog's fate from the opposite lane.

There didn't seem to be any other option. He wasn't fast enough to simply sprint across the road in time, and with cars barreling towards them from both sides, there was nowhere safe to stand even if he could reach the dog. That left only one course of action. Hopefully two seconds would be enough time.

To Bianca and everyone else watching from the sidelines, Jotaro seemed to move instantaneously from his position to the dog's, holding it against his chest in front of the car that nearly hit it. Despite the driver's attempt at braking, the laws of physics wouldn't allow the vehicle to halt its momentum in time, yet there it was at a complete standstill. For some reason, it almost looked like the indent of a fist was rammed into the hood.

"Watch where you're driving, asshole!" he yelled, the confused, frightened, and slightly whiplashed drive nodding furiously in acknowledgment. "You! Keep a hold of your damn dog!" He handed the animal back to its owner by the scruff of its neck, the woman continuously thanking him despite his anger.

With both lanes having ground to a halt, Bianca slowly made her way over to Jotaro. He stood motionless in the street despite the obvious need to move. She came up beside him, taking his hand gingerly and leading him back to the sidewalk.

He was shaking and, despite attempting to hide it, breathing heavily. Was it the fear of being run over? Of not being able to save the dog? And how had he even managed to make it in time? So many questions swirled in her head with no clear answers to any of them given her friend's current condition.

She still hadn't let go despite having reached a safe place to stand. Amazingly, this actually seemed to be helping as she gradually began to feel him steady, the strength she'd always known returning to his stance and grip.

For what may have been the first time since they'd known each other, their eyes truly met. More than just a passing connection as gazes shifted or a quick glance at one another, the two stared into each other in a desperate search for answers they'd never find.

Without even thinking, they kissed.

* * *

Jotaro had no idea how much he'd relate to Ray when he first watched Gundamn all the way back in the early 80's. I kind of feel like he's quietly one of those people who's dismissive of any newer seasons, too. Shameful.

Everyone should read Plastic Man if you possibly can. Doesn't matter if it's the original run, the 60's, the 80's, the one from the 2000's, or the current by Gail Simone. It's all fantastic. Also, check out the failed pilot and the DC Nation shorts. He's played by Tom Kenny in those. You can skip the old show, though. Like, it's not horrible and there's certainly worse old superhero stuff you could watch, but it's just not very interesting. Plus Plastic Man is only part of the larger variety-style deal they did for it.

We've reached the point of no return now. Only two chapters left until the end and a little more than 7 years out from DiU. Anyone want to take bets on what happens next?

Thanks for reading. Always remember to hold leashes tightly (in all scenarios).


	7. Aftermath

_Bianca and Jotaro have a real talk._

* * *

It was the following morning, Bianca sleeping soundly in bed. They'd made it back to Jotaro's apartment in something akin to a daze after the incident, making an escalating series of decisions he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about.

He'd put on some pants and wandered into his spacious kitchen, beginning work on cooking some eggs since that seemed like the kind of thing you were supposed to do in the morning according to movies. It was only about half effort given how preoccupied he was thinking things over, trying to understand why things had played out like they did.

He wasn't upset by it exactly so much as confused. He cared about Bianca a great deal, probably even more than he realized at first. Somewhere along the way, he'd grown comfortable around her, probably more so than anyone he'd ever known before even if he wasn't the best at showing it.

That just made things all the more frustrating. Was this a natural next step for them or was it some kind of mistake? He'd never even considered sleeping with someone before yet went along with it without hesitation. There were certainly worse ways to spend an evening, but it still seemed like such an extreme change from what he was used to.

Most of all, it made him feel vulnerable. Comfortable was one thing, but truly opening up and becoming intimate with someone, physically or otherwise, was almost a terrifying prospect for Jotaro. The last few years of his life were spent keeping everyone at arm's length for fear they might get wrapped up in something disastrous, so how did he end up here now?

"Those smell burnt," Bianca said sleepily, wandering out of the bedroom clad in Jotaro's shirt, something she'd no doubt felt was appropriate thanks to movies. It covered her like a dress down to her knees. She walked to the stove, placing Jotaro's hat on his head and dumping out the overcooked, crispy egg remnants to start over.

They were silent for the next few minutes, Bianca finally speaking after setting down two plates with nothing both scrambled eggs for the both of them. "Want to talk about what happened?" Jotaro didn't reply, digging into his food as if he hadn't heard anything. "Was it bad?"

"The eggs are fine," he said.

"You know that's not what I meant." Neither of them said anything after that, Jotaro continuing to ignore the issue and pretend that things were completely fine. Eventually, Bianca just came out and asked, "Did I force you to do something you didn't want to do?"

That made him pause. He sat back in his chair a bit, finally saying, "No."

"Are you mad about something I did?"

A few more seconds passed. "No."

"Something's wrong, though. What's upsetting you?" He grew quiet again. "Please talk to me. Explain it and I'll try to understand."

After a long period of silence and several failed attempts, Jotaro finally settled on what he could say. "Kakyoin. Avdol. Iggy." Bianca had no idea what those names were supposed to mean, so he continued. "Those were three of my friends. They died because of me. So now I don't make friends."

This only served to make her more confused. "If I did, it could happen again. No one else needs to get hurt because of me."

"Do you think something could happen to me?" she said, beginning to understand his fears.

"Maybe," he replied. "Can't take that risk anymore."

"But I'm here." His eyes fell just a bit. "Were the last few months just an accident or did I just fool myself into thinking I meant something to you?"

"I don't know," he said quietly, none of his thoughts making any kind of sense at the moment. If he had to go back and interrogate himself, he really had no clue as to why things had progressed this far. He didn't even have a good answer as to why he'd given her his umbrella that day. Everything was just confusing and painful and he had no way of explaining that in a way that he could express.

"Well, it wasn't an accident for me," she finally said. "I tried hard not to like you. You were weird and rude and never talked and disappeared all the time and I didn't really want anything to do with you. But then you just kept...being nice and letting me talk to you and helping me with homework even when you hadn't been in class for days, and for some reason I stuck around long enough to understand when you were feeling happy or sad or like you wanted to ask for something but couldn't, and it..."

She pulled her hands through her hair and sighed. "I don't know what I am to you. I don't know what you intended. But we're here now and I think...I don't know, I might...really...love you. Whatever that's good for." He sighed in a way that might have indicated dismissal, though even he wasn't entirely sure at this point.

"And it's not because you're not weird or rude or any of that, because you are. You're a stubborn jerk who gets upset when people can't read your mind, and most people don't even get that because you won't even tell them. But I also know you're thoughtful and considerate and smart, and when you get on a subject you like it's fun to watch how you start explaining and opening up because it makes me feel like I'm understanding you in a way no one else has before.

"And I know that even just doing nothing – just being around you and doing nothing – makes me happy. But I don't know what's going to happen if you can't tell me how you feel. You're holding so much in and I don't know what you want. I need you to tell me. Let me know somehow."

"It's probably better off if I'm alone," he said, trying to steel himself against his emotions.

"You don't have to be alone," she said. "I don't want you to be alone. I want to be here with you. Do you not want me?"

He was silent again after that, his left hand clenching as he tried to find the words he wanted to say. Almost desperate enough to have his Stand punch him square in the chest to force it out of him, he finally said, "I cherish you."

Time seemed to stop at that moment, though it had nothing to do with the supernatural. Before she could even realize it, Bianca had begun to cry. All she could ask was, "Really?" He nodded. While it still left something to be desired, she couldn't find it in herself to care at the moment. She was far too overwhelmed knowing that he returned her love, at least in some way.

"Talking about feelings...I kind of suck at it," he added. "That's not the kind of man I am. There's a lot I don't know how to say or can't say. A lot you don't know about me. Things I'm not ready to talk about. Might not ever be ready." He paused again, sighing slowly. "But if you stay...I'll try. I want you to stay."

Wiping her eyes as she sniffled, Bianca reached out to his hand slowly with a smile. "I want to stay, too."

"It might be a bad idea," he said as he took her hand. "People get hurt when they're around me."

"You won't hurt me," she told him.

Slowly, they stood up. With a bit of hesitation, they pulled each other into a hug. No matter what came after, for this moment in time, the two felt truly happy.

* * *

You thought there would be a sloppy and gratuitous sex scene, but it was really emotionally-charged talking after the fact.

For anyone else, just wearing pants and a hat would probably look really goofy, but I think Jotaro could pull it off. It would be weirder if he didn't have the hat (assuming he'd take it off at all).

It's really too bad that they can't work things out in the future. They're on the right track, but the fact Jotaro's keeping so much of his life a secret is what's going to destroy them. He'll try to open up, but he's always got to shoulder the burden alone and can't tell her about Stands or his work since he's afraid of involving people in things.

Next chapter is the end. It's been fun writing this. Thanks for reading. Always remember to use protection.


	8. Forever

_Bianca has been keeping a secret for the last few weeks. Jotaro is about to find out what it is._

* * *

Bianca and Jotaro seemed to be an official couple by this point. They never had any sort of explicit conversation about labeling their relationship, but that seemed like a good way to describe them since that day two weeks prior. Despite this, little had changed in how they actually interacted with one another save for the occasional display of affection.

True to his word, Jotaro was trying to be more open with his feelings. Though he still concealed the truth about himself and his frequent absences, he'd make it a point to let her know when he'd be gone or how he was feeling during the day. He even went so far as to tell her he cared for her regularly; not with words precisely, but in ways that made the message just as clear.

However, things began to change one day. Bianca started to act distant out of the blue, Jotaro unable to place what he may have done wrong. He even went so far as to ask if he'd upset her in some way, but she always denied it. This carried on for several days, the two seeing less and less of each other until they rarely even spoke.

Eventually, he decided to take a proactive approach to the issue, tracking her down after class one day and endeavoring to get some answers. He found her hurriedly walking home, nearly missing her with her face partially obscured by the umbrella she never bothered to return as it shielded her from the light winter snowfall. Stepping into her path, he opened with, "Are you going to tell me what's going on?" in lieu of a real greeting.

The regret and embarrassment was plain to see on her face. "I've been trying to get better at saying how I feel about things since you asked me to do that. Kind of a dick move to just do the opposite like this. If I did something to piss you off, I can't know how to fix it if you won't even talk to me."

"No, you didn't do anything wrong," she said, sighing and shaking her head. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should have said something to you. I just...I needed time to process some stuff." It was clear she needed to elaborate on that bit. Gathering her courage, she swallowed hard and began with, "So, I kind of took a test the other day."

"Did you pass?" Jotaro asked.

Bianca couldn't help but let a small laugh escape, though it was clear she was still extremely nervous. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Rubbing her temples, she tried to continue. "Well, I mean...oh boy, uh..."

"You feeling okay?" he asked. "If you're sick or something, you might want to sit down. There's a bench not that far from here."

"No, it's fine. I'm just really struggling here." She couldn't even muster a laugh now, the pressure of the situation bearing down on her like she was 10,000 leagues below sea level. "Okay, so that night. The one where we...uh..."

"What, did the movie freak you out? I tried to warn you. It starts off kind of slow but kicks your ass once it gets going."

"No, before that. I just...okay, look, don't say anything. I'm just going to say it." She took a breath before blurting it all out in one go. "Okay, I took a pregnancy test and it came back positive and since I haven't slept with anyone besides you since I got here there's almost a 100% chance it's yours so please don't be mad."

There were several tense seconds of silence before Jotaro pulled the brim of his hat down over his eyes. "Good grief," he sighed. "Guess I really screwed this up."

Bianca blinked in confusion. "What's that mean?"

"It's my fault it turned out like this. I should've known better than to just keep going there at the end like some freaking teenager with no self control."

"Okay, it's kind of both our faults since that's...how DNA works, but if we're blaming anyone, I kind of made it hard for you to stop with my legs doing the thing and all, so I'm at least 65% responsible."

"No offense, but you're not that strong. I could have gotten out of there without even trying, but I didn't."

"And I'm the one who was yelling, 'Don't stop!' the whole time, so I gave you permission to keep at it. Therefore, it's my lack of foresight that got us into this mess."

"You've always been crap at thinking ahead. It's why I always kick your ass in Stratego. That's been my job, so I was slacking off, which makes it my fault."

"Yeah? Well, maybe I kind of wanted to get pregnant in the first place, so I made sure you couldn't stop and didn't have any protection on hand on purpose." She paused. "I mean, not really, but I want to win this argument."

She sighed once more, turning around and falling backwards into Jotaro's arms to represent how exhausting this whole thing was. "We screwed up."

"Yeah," he agreed, raising her up to put her back on her feet. "Either way, I'll help you take care of what ever you decide to do about this. It's up to you where we go from here."

"That's the thing," she said a bit hesitantly. "I was thinking about it this whole time and...I mean, I kind of want to keep it. Like, I know that's a really bad idea with where I am in life and everything and the fact we still don't even really know each other that well and my parents are totally going to kick my ass into the dirt when I come home and announce, 'Hey, this nice guy I met in Japan got me knocked up!' but...it feels like the right choice."

He nodded. "You don't have to worry about stuff like money. I'll take care of that much, at least."

She was quiet for a moment before tentatively adding, "You don't really have to worry about that if you...wanted to...be a part of all this. I definitely wouldn't mind. No pressure, I mean. This was all just a big accident, so it's not like I expect you to stick around just because I'm making bad decisions with my life."

"I told you before that I want you to stay," he said immediately. "It would take a lot more than just this to make me change my mind. I'm stubborn like that. It kind of runs in my family. Speaking of which...shit, I guess you'll have to meet them now. And if we end up living together after this, where are we supposed to stay? Are you moving here or do I go back with you?"

"And school," she added. "I've got nine months at best and a whole year left on this degree. And I was going to be a chemist, so that's another degree on top of that. How am I going to do all that now? I don't want to be the kind of person who has to leave my kid with a babysitter all the time, and my parents are always really busy with their own jobs."

"Sure as hell can't leave it with the old man even if you two live in the same city. He can't take care of a baby. I don't even know how he managed to raise my mom. I guess my grandma's pretty capable, though."

"What about your parents? We could just stay in Japan."

"I guess that could work. My dad's retired now, so there's both of them to help out. Going to be rough either way if we're both still in school, though."

"Hey, totally off topic, but how do you feel about Florida? Like, absolutely nothing to do with what we're talking about, but I've always kind of wanted to live there. Lots of ocean, I guess. You might like it."

"There's worse options," he said, clearly thinking it over as he said that. "We've got a lot to figure out now."

"Good grief," she said while doing her best to copy his inflection. "It could be worse, though. I mean..." Bianca cleared her throat a bit, doing her best not to turn red. "I've still got you here. I think it'll be okay that way."

"You sure about that? I'll probably be a lousy father. I'm not exactly the nurturing type, you know."

"I think you'll do a wonderful job." Before they knew it, they'd already started walking back to Jotaro's apartment. "Hey, are we going to get married now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. It's not that big of a deal, at least to me. But if you still want me to hang around, I don't see why we can't."

"If we do, you'd better buy me the biggest ring you can find."

He scoffed. "So that was your plan the whole time. Trick me into marrying you so you can take my money."

"A girl has to find some way to get by," she said. "It's rough out there for an expecting mother just trying to make the best life possible for her child."

"Should have known you were trouble from the start," he said, trying to keep a smile from creeping onto his lips.

"And now you're stuck with me for good," she replied, bumping up against his shoulder. As they crossed the street, she moved close to him once again, maneuvering her hand into his as it closed around hers. As far as they knew, this was the beginning of a bright and happy future together.

Nothing lasts forever, though.

* * *

And that's the end. It's been a fun ride getting here and I've really enjoyed writing this story. I hope you all enjoyed reading it.

The visual of Jotaro actually sitting down to play a game of Stratego is probably going to be my greatest contribution to pretty much anything in my whole life. Someone needs to do some art of that and then send it to me. Or maybe I'm the only one who thinks that's funny and you can tell me to fuck off.

I was always surprised at just how quickly after Stardust Crusaders Jotaro would have had to have found his wife in the manga. Jolyne's age didn't give him much time. Honestly, if she was younger, I could have gone on for a lot more chapters as they developed their relationship over the course of years before the marriage and subsequent divorce. Too bad we don't live in that alternate universe, Pucci.

While this is the end, it's almost certainly not going to be the last time we see Bianca. I've already got more ideas for things I can write to follow up on this, so stick around if you're interested in some sweet domestic bits in between a marriage between two kids struggling under the weight of a baby neither of them is entirely sure how to handle. For now, though, I've got some other stuff to work on, so it'll be a while before any of that materializes. Still, I say that a lot in situations where I inevitably write and upload the thing in question the very next day, so who even knows what I'm going to do at this point. I sure as fuck don't.

If you're just, like, chomping at the bit to know more about these two in the meantime, though, I guess you could send me questions on my blog. I have no idea why anyone would seek me out on other platforms, but that is a thing I am officially inviting you people to do. That could apply to anything I write, too.

Thanks for sticking with me to the end. I'm going to go off and struggle to care for this turtle who is not named Mr. President since I subscribe to the TMNT school of reptile names. Take care of yourselves, though, since I'm not there to do it for you. Always remember to make time for the ones you love, Jotaro.

Also, you all see that dance on Friday? Good shit, DP.


End file.
